Not Good Enough

[Reuben] tried to rescue [Joseph] from their hands. “Let’s not take his life,” he said. “Don’t shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him.” Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father … When Reuben returned to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes. He went back to his brothers and said, “The boy isn’t there! Where can I turn now?” Then they got Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. They took the ornate robe back to their father and said, “We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son’s robe.”
- from Genesis 37:21-32
 
Reuben tried to save Joseph. He persuaded his brothers to throw Joseph into a cistern and planned to come back later and rescue him. But Reuben’s efforts weren’t enough.
 
Has this ever happened to you? You try to do some good, to work an angle to bless someone, to prevent some cruel or harsh or evil act … but your good just isn’t good enough.
 
Good intentions sometimes backfire. And we’re so often overmatched by the complex brokenness of the world. We’re not enough. We do our best, but sometimes our best just isn’t enough.
 
It’s tempting for us to project our experience onto God. We can think of him as the well-intentioned deity who’s doing his best but is also in over his head. That’s one way that people make peace with life’s disappointments, as Rabbi Kushner detailed in his Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?
 
But over and over again throughout the biblical story this way of resolving the tension around disappointment in God is roundly rejected. Though God is not mentioned once in Genesis 37, we later discover that he was at work all throughout this painful and difficult episode.
 
When Reuben’s efforts to save Joseph fail, the brothers kill a goat and dip their brother’s robe in the blood. They cook up a story to fool their father and maintain their innocence.
 
Generations later this scene plays out again. A man is arrested for his dreams. He’s stripped of his robe and dehumanized. Money changes hands. But no goat is sacrificed. Jesus’ own blood is spilled and, as a result, all who trust in him are redeemed.
 
In answer to Reuben’s tragic question – “Where can I turn now?” – we say “Turn to Jesus.” In him we see that God’s good is good enough. His best efforts succeed. Where we’re overmatched, he proves mighty. And he will get involved.
 
Where have your attempts to do good backfired or failed? Where do you need to turn to Jesus and invite him to get involved in your life?

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